The Newest of Us
by firebird793
Summary: After Joel and Ellie arrive at Tommy's they settle in with an uneasy friendship between the two. When a new survivor arrives at the town looking for Ellie, she is forced to leave to help the stranger and help an old friend.


'Swear to me!' Ellie interrupted. 'Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true!'

Joel stared at her, silent for a moment before replying, 'I swear.'

Ellie sighed, breathing deeply for several seconds, knowing that Joel had just lied to her.

'Okay.'

- 2 Months Later -

Ellie sat on the edge of the bridge above the roaring water as it flowed out of the hydro-electric station. She had the sleeve of her shirt rolled up and was tracing the outline of the bite on her arm.

But on the inside, she was thinking about Joel. He had tried to be the same person before the Hospital, but Ellie just couldn't think of him like that any more. He had taken her away from the Fireflies, but Ellie did not know how he did it. She felt betrayed by him, especially after he lied to her just before they arrived at Tommy's.

Footsteps came clanking along the metal walkway towards her and Ellie quickly rolled up her sleeve. Only Joel, Tommy and Maria knew about her condition, and they all thought it best that nobody else learn about it.

When Ellie turned her head to see who it was, she saw the Joel, slowly approaching her, concern in his eyes. She watched as he sat down next to her and stared out over the immense forest that lay before them.

'I know you've been avoiding me Ellie,' Joel said softly. 'You've barely spoken to me since we arrived, and when you do it's always short talks, like you don't want to know me at all.'

Ellie said nothing back to him, and watched the river as it snaked its way through the trees.

'Ellie, I'm talking to you.'

'I know Joel,' Ellie snapped back at him. 'I'm not deaf.'

'Then why don't you answer me?'

'Maybe I'm not sure if I want to talk to you at all.'

Joel stared at the side of her face before standing up with several cracking sounds from his knees and his back. The last two months had been rough on him, especially since he has no longer been on the move every day.

'Tommy wanted to talk to you by the way.'

'What about?'

'Said he wanted to go out hunting with you,' Joel replied as he started to leave. 'Give you some time out of the walls.'

Ellie sighed as his footsteps became further and further away, watching the water glisten in the morning sun. What was she going to do with Joel?

Rex sprinted through the forest, shrieks and low growls echoing among the trees. He had been staying ahead of the runners for the last hour now, but he was beginning to get tired, and soon enough they would catch up to him. Just his luck to have attracted the attention of every infected in the city, but not the hunters with a giant army vehicle and a full automatic .50 turret strapped on the top.

His hopes were suddenly shattered as he realized that he had somehow made his way to the edge of a giant cliff, a waterfall on the other side and a small lake 50 meters below him.

He started to turn around but as he did, he could see the outlines of the infected as the got closer and closer to him.

'Shit!' he hissed as his electric blue eyes darted around, looking for another possible escape route.

It didn't take long for him to realize that the infected had managed to surround him from every angle.

'Shit!' he hissed again as he lowered himself over the edge of the cliff. 'This is a really fucking bad idea!'

Slowly he found himself hand and footholds and began to work his way down the side of the rock, grimacing as the cuts and bullet holes in his arms and chest screamed in pain.  
Moss covered the small pockets and made them slippery for him to grab. Halfway down the cliff he heard a monstrous roaring sound. He turned his head and looked at the bottom of the cliffside.

Near the lake was a group of large, furry brown animals. Rex counted a total of three of them, and unluckily, they were all staring at him. The beasts started working their way towards the cliff, growling at him, smelling the scent of fresh blood.  
Once the bears reached the bottom of the cliff, they stood on their hind legs and reached out with their front paws to try and grab Rex, but he was too far away.  
Rex's arms were beginning to shake, and over the thunderous sound of the roaring bears, he could hear the clicks, shrieks and moans of the infected at the top of the cliff.

Carefully, he slid his backpack off one of his shoulders and swung it against the cliff-side, keeping it trapped between his body and the rock.  
Letting go off the cliff with one of his hands, he pulled out two items. His lighter and the last Molotov that he had left.

Carefully lighting the cloth at the end of the bottle, Rex dropped the bottle nearby the bears and it exploded in a cloud of flame. The bears roared and slowly stalked backwards. Taking his chance, Rex dropped from the cliff-side and landed on the ground, stumbling and almost falling over.

The bears roared and began to circle around the flames, but Rex had already taken off running.

Running at full speed along the side of the lake, he reached a point where a small river cut out of the pool and curved through the thick trees.

Rex continued to sprint as fast as he could, but the earth was shaking beneath him and he knew that the bears were not far behind.

Ellie walked around the edge of the walkways until she reached the tower where Tommy was perched, his rifle leaned up against the wall.

'Hey Tommy.'

'Hey Ellie!' Tommy replied, turning his head to look at her. 'I see Joel got my message to you.'

'Yep, he told me you wanted to go out hunting with me.'

'I sure do. Joel told me how you went hunting for food to feed the both of you in winter time last year.'

_Ellie crept through the snow, following the heavy tracks of her prey. The deer could not have gone far. It didn't take long for her to find him, two arrows buried in his body, blood pooling in the white snow._

_Ellie heard a noise from behind her and raised her bow,_

_'Who's there?' She ordered. 'Come out!'_

_A man and a teenager stepped out from around a nearby tree, hands raised up to shoulder height._

_'Hello,' the man said. 'We just wanna talk.'_

_'Any sudden movements and I put one right between your eye,' Ellie threatened.'What do you want?'_

_'Names David.' the man said._

'Ellie?' Tommy asked, not knowing what was happening in her head.

_Ellie struggled as David tied her against the stone table in the middle of the butchering room. She screamed and told him to stop, kicking at him with her free legs. It didn't take long for David to strap those down too._

_'Hold still there little lady,' David whispered to her. 'Or else I'm gonna make things worse for you.'_

_Ellie continued to struggled, trying her hardest to rip her arms and legs out of the bonds that tied her to the table._

_'Such a shame that you won't see what we are doing is right.' David whispered as he ran his hands over her body, his fingers exploring her sides and running against her back._

_'Don't touch me you fucker!' Ellie swore at David._

_'Now now,' David said, taking his hands off of her chest. 'We can't have language like that if you are going to be with us.'_

_David pulled back his arm and hit Ellie in the face. Dazed, Ellie stopped struggling and was unaware of David as he went back to stroking her body. She took no notice of him running his hands up and down the insides and outsides of her pushed her shirt up with his hands and stroked her stomach with his hands, slowing moving them further up her chest until he was almost touching her small breasts. _

_Ellie snapped out of her daze in time to realize what was happening and began to struggle against him once more._

_'Get off me you fuck!'_

_She struggled, but David was not tied up and slipped his hands underneath the bra Ellie was wearing and began to squeeze her small boobs. _

_Ellie continued to struggle but David continued to torture her._

'Ellie!' Tommy said, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. 'Ellie are you alright?'

'I'm fine Tommy,' Ellie lied. 'Just zoned out for a second y'know?'

Tommy puffed and let go of her.

'If you say so.'

'What were you saying before Tommy?'

'I was saying that Joel told me how you went hunting in winter time, and I thought it would be interesting to see if you could do better than I could. It would be nice to have someone who can actually gather food for once.'

'Yeah, sounds good. What time were you thinking about leaving?'

'Sometime later tonight. Maybe around 3.'

'Ok, I'll make sure I'm ready by then and I'll see you at the main gate.'

'See you there Ellie,' Tommy said, waving goodbye as Ellie walked down the steps into the compound.

Her breaths were short and erratic, she was shocked by the flashback she had just had from the conversation, and was trying to not think about what had happened.

She dragged her hands down her face before walking through the power plant through to the small city where all of the people were living.

The bears growled behind him as he continued to run through the trees. He could see a clearing ahead of him, but as he got closer he realized with horror that he had found his was to the edge of another cliff. He could see a large, broken bridge a few miles to his left, forests and trees to the right and a river directly below him.

Turning around he could see the bears bounding towards him. He was about to lower himself down the cliff-side like he did earlier, but was shocked to see that there was only a smooth cliff face below him with no spots for his hands or feet to go.

The roar of the bears sounded like it was directly behind him. He made a quick decision, but also a stupid one.

'This is fucking crazy,' he said to himself as he leapt off of the cliff.


End file.
